Obama to Skip Liberal Conference, Continues to Court the Center

May 29, 2009 -- Barack Obama was there in 2006. That's when some supporters were urging him to consider a presidential run.

Barack Obama was there in 2007. That's when he was in the thick of the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination and staking out the left wing of the Democratic party as his base turf in his battle against Hillary Clinton.

But when the annual gathering sponsored by the liberal activist group Campaign for America's Future convenes in Washington, D.C.. next week, President Obama will not make the trip up Connecticut Avenue to address the group.

The annual conference is adjusting to new political realities in more ways than simply the lineup of speakers. In years past, the gathering has been called "Take Back America." Now, with emboldened Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and a Democrat sitting in the Oval Office, the conference is being called "America's Future Now."

The Obama administration is not shunning the conference by any means. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Organizing for America chief Mitch Stewart, and Vice President Biden's top economic adviser Jared Bernstein are all on tap to participate.

But Obama and his White House team have appeared pretty committed in their efforts to hang on to that all important and vast center in American politics. The president has been reluctant to take up the culture wars of administrations past, and on signature issues such as health care and energy, Obama has strived for broad consensus over a policy dictate from the White House.

It's not terribly difficult to do the math. Liberals are already pretty ardent Obama supporters, and they are not a terribly large ideological slice in the overall electorate. The exit polls from the 2008 election showed only 22 percent of voters consider themselves liberal. Far more labeled themselves moderate (44 percent) or conservative (34 percent).

As he works to keep the moderates and independents he persuaded to vote for him in November in the fold, Obama is less eager to wrap himself in the left wing base of his party.

Conference Might Highlight Differences with Obama

"We understand that the White House has to listen to all sides. We also understand that our job is to make, to mobilize the political force so that they don't ignore progressives," said Campaign for America's Future co-founder Roger Hickey.

"So it's less important that we have chummy meetings at the White House. It's more important that they know that over half the Congress has signed the health care principles that our coalition is fighting for."

Hickey explained that the focus of the upcoming conference is on the economic challenges facing the country. However, he is aware that some attendees will want to highlight some of their key differences with the Obama administration on foreign policy.

"I am sure there will be some expressions of concern and worry about both Afghanistan and indefinite detention, but that's not going to be the central focus of our conference," said Hickey.

"It's become a very sophisticated and powerful set of institutional alliances that allow us to really put pressure, especially on the Congress, when it's needed," Hickey said of all the left-leaning groups coming together for "America's Future Now." "On all of the signature economic domestic issues that Obama ran on, and now he's talking about the big battles that are coming up, there is a progressive mobilization going on. Health care, energy policy, education, and EFCA, The Employee Free Choice Act, immigration will be heavily discussed at our conference."

In addition to the foreign policy disagreements between some liberal activists and the White House, Hickey expects banking reform to be the domestic policy issue representing the sharpest divide with Obama.

Whatever divisions with the Obama administration present themselves at the conference, political observers do not expect any significant rift between the president and his base to emerge.

"I think most progressives are still giving him the benefit of the doubt," said Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, who headed up John Edwards' populist campaign during the Democratic nomination fight. "The guy's got a lot that he has to take care of and he has to get the votes to do that. He can't do everything I want and lose the votes he needs for health care and others to get through."

"If you look at the previous administration, it went hard to its base the whole way, and look at where it left the country," he added.

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Trippi explained that when progressives look at Obama in a vacuum there may be some disappointment on Guantanamo Bay or military tribunals, but when put in relative terms to President Bush's policies, that disappointment is likely to dissipate.

"That's buying him a hell of a lot of time," Trippi said.

The progressive movement finds itself upbeat with the Democratic dominance at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, but also eager to push its agenda forward.

"It's not just a sit back and enjoy the moment kind of upbeat," said Hickey. "It's a very, very serious moment of opportunity, and it could go badly. We don't want this to be a Jimmy Carter presidency. We want this to be like the Roosevelt presidency. We want this to be a Reagan presidency where there's a real possibility for a sea change in the politics and the economics of the country."

Trippi said the political calibration being made by the Obama team at the White House is clear.

"If the base gets a little softer on you, there is plenty of time later on to fix that," he said.

ABC News' Elizabeth Gorman contributed to this report.